The Region of Biobio is located between the 36º00’ and 38º30’ southern latitude parallels, and between the 71º00’ western longitude meridian all the way to the Pacific ocean. Its northern border is the Region of el Maule; its southern border is the Region of Araucania; the eastern border is Argentina and the western border is the Pacific ocean. It is administratively split into four provinces, Ñuble, Biobio, Concepcion and Arauco and the capital is Concepcion.
It has a surface area of 37,068.7 km2 (which equals 4.9% of Continental and Insular Chile), and a population of 1,861,562 residents (2002 Census). Of this total, 915,200 (49.2%) are men, and 946,362 (50.8%) are women. The regional population density is 50.2 inhabitants per km2. It is the second most populated region in the country after the Metropolitan Region. 12.3% of Chile’s total population is concentrated here. The most inhabited comunas are Concepcion, Talcahuano, Los Angeles and Chillan, and the least inhabited ones are San Fabian de Alico, San Rosendo and Quilaco. Most of the population lives in urban areas (82.1%). The city that experienced the highest growth was Los Angeles, with 106,556 inhabitants.
When we compare the periods between censuses, when it comes to age, this region has shown the following changes: the population between 0 and 19 years old decreased 5.8% (from 688,202 to 648,377), and the population over 30 increased 28% (from 720,561 to 924,562 people).
In addition, in the Region of Biobio there are 53,907 people (2.9% of the regional total) who belong to an ethnic group. Of that total, the most numerous one are the mapuches with 52,918 people (98.1%). They are mainly found in the provinces of Biobio and Arauco.
